Ironwood Ridge high will have teen court next year

Sticking gum wads under desks and being habitually tardy won't
guarantee an Ironwood Ridge High School student a trip to the
principal's office much longer.

Next fall, the small-time flouters of the school's rules will
get to choose who will dole out their punishments - a principal or
a jury of their peers.

The 25 juniors and seniors enrolled in the brand-new Teen Court
elective will study America's judicial system for six to eight
weeks before assuming the roles of prosecuting attorney, defense
attorney, court reporter and bailiff.

A plea of "guilty" is all a minor-league rule breaker needs to
access the school's court - that and a stomach for being admonished
by peers.

"The purpose behind the court is that peer pressure can work in
negative ways, obviously, but it can also work in positive ways,"
said Amanda Stoxen, the soon-to-be teacher for Teen Court.

Volunteer jurors will be selected from Ironwood Ridge's entire
population. The punishments at their disposal may include community
service, mandatory tutoring sessions, a letter of apology, and
attendance at a decision-making workshop.

Teen Court is a program of Pima Prevention Partnership, which
helps foster conditions for positive change in communities by
providing a range of services to individuals, community groups,
agencies and institutions.

Pima Prevention Partnership is also opening a Northwest division
of its Pima County Teen Court in May at the Magistrate Court in Oro
Valley.

It is a teenager-run alternative to juvenile court that handles
misdemeanor offenses including possessing drug paraphernalia,
fighting, shoplifting and theft.

Teenagers wanting to participate can call 791-2711.

Ironwood Ridge will be the county's first high school to offer
the Teen Court option, but about a dozen middle schools have it
already.

La Cima Middle School has been encouraging its students to
approach the stand for about five years.

"Sometimes that's the hardest part - sitting on the stand and
hearing what you did wrong in front of your peers," said Phil
Tilichi, a seventh grade teacher who helped to start the school's
Teen Court. "They'd much rather plea bargain than go on trial.
They'd rather have a harsher sentence than go on trial."

Tilichi said the students who play a role in selecting proper
punishments feel proud of their service to their school. He said
their positions carry prestige because they must be applied for,
and require teacher recommendations. He said their work really does
mean less work for administrators.

"The biggest thing is that the office doesn't get bogged down
with minor offenses that can be dealt with outside the office," he
said.

This fall's Teen Court crew at Ironwood Ridge won't have to meet
any special criteria to participate, Stoxen said. That may change,
though, when the program becomes established.

The crew's job will begin after a teacher or campus monitor
writes a disciplinary referral for a student.

If the alleged rule breaker admits guilt and asks for court
assistance, a prosecuting attorney and defense attorney will set
out with notebooks in hand to interview the key players.

If there is an agreement between the Town of Oro Valley and
Amphitheater Public Schools' legal office, the program could expand
later to include other disciplinary infractions that lead to
arrest.

A plea of "guilty" is necessary in Teen Court for maintaining
order, Stoxen said.

"If you have a situation where a student is referred and is
found to be not guilty, it takes some of the authority from the
teachers," she said.

As the lawyers gather evidence, a bailiff will round up a
volunteer jury, and court will go into session during a class-free
conference period.

Only adults will hold the judge's gavel.

"They have the responsibility of keeping things moving," Stoxen
said. "With Teen Court, my understanding is that they move through
cases very quickly, so it's important to make sure the students
don't go off track."

The teen court will strive to exact punishments that are more
useful than the average detention or out-of-school suspension,
Stoxen said.

"We want to focus on creating constructive discipline so a
student who has gotten in trouble gets something out of the
experience," she said. "At this point, typically they get detention
or something, so we'll try to come up with some other consequences
that might relate more closely to what they've done."

For example, she said, a student caught affixing wads of bubble
gum to the undersides of desks might have to scrape away other
peoples' affixed gum wads.

Stoxen said she expects that Teen Court will benefit not only
offenders, but all other students as well.

"Having been a teenager, and having worked with teenagers, I
know kids often feel that adults don't understand their
perspective," she said. "So having the students make the decisions
about the consequences should be a valuable thing.

"These are students making decisions about what they think is
acceptable and what the consequences should be," she said. "It's
nice the students have a say in what is going on on campus."